Periodicals are the most fruitful source of information for any business, and there is periodical literature of value being issued constantly on every conceivable subject. Every industry and profession has its journals and in them will be found the latest and best information.
The value of periodicals in a business organization was very ably stated some time ago by the secretary of an electrical association, and as this testimony is not from a librarian but from a practical business man, it seems worth while to quote as follows:
"The technical or trade journal of today is the livest and most 'up-to-now' assistant a business man has. It is carefully edited, well-printed, fully illustrated and thoroughly indexed both as to literary matter and advertisements. It is the 'always ready reference' of the minute, and the official, head of a department, or even workman, who does not use it to its fullest capacity, is neglecting one of his best friends. I have been surprised to find how many of the larger companies are actually stingy when it comes to paying out money for subscriptions to their trade and technical journals. They talk about one, two or three dollars per year as if it were that many hundreds; they look at the expenditure as if it were an expense instead of an investment, which, properly handled, will bring good returns.
"In no other way can any business man, no matter how high or low his position, keep so fully abreast of the times in his business as by early and careful perusal of his trade and technical periodical, from its front to its back cover, and from no other source can he obtain the 'immediately useful' so well as he can from a well filled and indexed present volume of those same publications."
"Printers' Ink" has also stated the case as follows:
"The manufacturer, desirous of keeping his finger on the pulse at Washington, who will spend ten dollars, or fifteen dollars, or twenty dollars a year for business papers and other periodicals that specialize with respect to business news from the national capital, can be pretty well assured that he has every tip that could come to him via the intelligence office, that asks a fee of fifty or one hundred dollars per annum. Indeed, it has happened, not once but dozens of times this past year or two that business journals, etc., carried information days and even weeks before it was sent out in the mimeographed 'letters' and 'bulletins' which the former bureaus distributed, marked 'confidential' and 'not for publication.'"
The Contents of Periodicals
Not only do periodicals contain lengthy articles on special subjects, but every item in them from cover to cover is of value; for example, in engineering periodicals the business library is greatly aided by the current news notes on books, pamphlets, meetings and people; information on state and federal legislation; prices of materials and second-hand material for sale or wanted to purchase, new construction notes, new devices and best makes of standard supplies.
The brief notes found in current periodicals, announcing the publication of trade pamphlets, reports of state boards, special committees, private corporations and bulletins published by universities, lectures delivered at colleges and papers presented at state meetings of associations, are most valuable guides in collecting pamphlets, which although in many cases may be had for the asking, represent a collection of valuable data which can not be replaced by the expenditure of any amount of money and yet most of it costs only a polite letter of request.
Aids in Selection of Periodicals
The business man or the business librarian will first of all desire to select the periodicals that best cover the needs of his organization. If he wishes to ascertain the titles of periodicals on special subjects in order to obtain sample copies for examination, or if he has the title and wishes to find the frequency of issue, the place of publication and subscription price, there are several books that give such information and which should be found in the public library of his city. It is advisable also for him to see a list of all periodicals which are on file at his public library with a view to examining those which may be suited to his immediate needs. The following books will give information about periodicals on special subjects.